Shri Hariharan

Padma Shri Hariharan</>

Born in Bombay on April 3rd, 1955, Hariharan has bachelors degrees in science and law. The son of renowned Carnatic vocalists, the late Ananthasubramani ("H. A. S. Mani") from Trivandrum and Shrimati Alamelu, Hariharan naturally inherited his parents' musical talents. Mom was Hariharan's first guruji. From her he picked up Carnatic music skills.

Hariharan's parents were musically open-minded and the young Hariharan was encouraged to listen to Hindustani music. Later, in his teens, inspired by the songs of Mehdi Hassan, Hariharan developed a passion for ghazals and started training in Hindustani music from Padma Shri Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan. He used to put in nine hours of singing practice everyday. Hariharan's affinity for ghazals lies in the fact that ghazals offer, in his words, "immense scope for innovation". The committed Hariharan also put heart and soul into learning Urdu when he decided to become a ghazal singer. He has perfected his Urdu diction to such standards that even his audiences in Lucknow, the heartland of the language, have been wowed over.

In 1977 Hariharan bagged the top prize in the All-India Sur Singaar competition and was promptly signed on by the late music director Jaidev to sing for the Hindi film "Gaman". His ghazal "Ajeeb saane he mujh par qarar" in that movie became such a hit that it won Hariharan an Uttar Pradesh state award, and Hariharan's playback singing career began.

In his early years Hariharan did the concert circuit and also performed on TV. He sang for a number of TV serials, e.g., "Junoon". In addition, he cut several successful ghazal albums. He wrote the scores himself for most of these ghazal albums. One of Hariharan's first ghazal albums was "Abshaar-e-Ghazal" with Asha Bhosle, which scored Gold in sales. Another outstanding ghazal album was "Gulfam", which not only hit Double Platinum in sales but also fetched Hariharan the Diva Award for the Best Album of the Year in 1994. Meanwhile, Hariharan sang in a number of Hindi movies such as "Sahibaan", "Lamhe", "Raam Nagari", "Dard Ke Rishte", Zamana" and "Sindoor".

The Bombay-based Hariharan made his debut in the Tamil singing world in 1993 with the patriotic hit song "Thamizha thamizha" in "Roja" under the baton of A R Rehman. Two years later, Hariharan was adjudged "Best Male Playback Singer" in the Tamilnadu State Government Film Awards for 1995. It was teasing manner in which he sang "Konjanaal poru thalaivaa" (Aasai) that won Hariharan this honour. Subsequently, Tamil singing assignments began pouring in for Hariharan, and today there is no doubt that he is the most sought-after singer in South India.

The year 1996 was a milestone in Hariharan's career, when the release of the Indian-English fusion album "Colonial Cousins" skyrocketed him to unprecedented fame. A collaborative effort with Bombay-based composer/singer Leslie Lewis, "Colonial Cousins" became the first Indian act to be featured on MTV Unplugged and also won the pair a string of national and international awards, including the MTV Indian Viewers' Choice award and US Billboards award. In this album, Hariharan has proven his boundless virtuosity. He has also co-written the musical scores for some of the pieces. One very powerful song in the album is "Let me see the love", in which Hariharan scales through Hamsathwani raga in three octaves, hitting the lowest and highest notes with equal facility. Another interesting piece is "Feel Alright", in which Hariharan sings the English lyrics in typical Indian folk style, complete with gamaks. In "Rain" and "Tere mere aankhon", the ghazal singer comes to the fore subtly, while in "Krishna" and "It's gonna be alright", the Carnatic singer in Hariharan surfaces. The other songs in the album are equally melodious and showcase Hariharan's hitherto little-known versatility.

Another milestone year was 1998, when the patriotic song "Mere dushman mere bhai" from the Hindi movie "Border" won Hariharan the coveted National Award for "Best Male Playback Singer". That award capped a quest for excellence that started 20 years earlier when "Ajeeb saane he mujh par qarar" from "Gaman" won Hariharan a nomination for the National Award.

Hariharan has developed a distinctive style of his own even though he admires the late Mohd Rafi and Kishore Kumar as well as S P Balasubramaniam and K J Jesudas. The long-underrated singer has finally arrived and will remain a permanent fixture on the Indian musical scene for a long time to come.

Hariharan took the Indian musical scene by storm in 1996 with his phenomenally successful "Colonial Cousins" album, a collaborative effort with Leslie Lewis. This Indian-English fusion album, which consistently topped the Indian musical charts in 1996 and even became the first Indian act to be featured on MTV Unplugged, won Hariharan the international fame that had eluded him in his more than 15-year career as a recording artiste. Trained both in Carnatic and Hindustani music, this Tamilian from Bombay first made his mark in an unconventional way -- as a ghazal singer. But his fame was restricted to a small coterie of ghazal fans. Hariharan has also long sung for Hindi films and for Tamil films since 1993 but, ironically, it was an album in which he has sung in English that catapulted him to the heights of fame. Since that success, there has been no turning back; acclaim after acclaim followed. Hariharan is now the most sought after film singer in Chennai. Mumbai's filmdom has also re-discovered him. In 1998, Hariharan received the prestigious Indian National Film Award for "Best Male Singer" for the Hindi song Mere dushman mere bhai from the movie "Border".

HIM, HER AND THAT HAIR
The Hindu



HARIHARAN AND his wife Lalitha give us glimpses of what keeps their marriage alive and ticking. Quiet and demure Lalitha seems to be a perfect foil for the flamboyant Hariharan.

Hariharan made his debut as a playback singer with Gaman, after making his name as a ghazal singer. His soulful song "Thamizha, Thamizha" for Roja (1993) under A.R. Rahman's baton made him a household name in the South. In 1996, Colonial Cousins, his album with Leslie Lewis, catapulted him to international fame. While Hariharan is busy with his singing career, Lalitha lives in Bangalore with their two sons.

SARASWATHY NAGARAJAN records as the duo chats.

Hariharan: Most people don't know that ours was an arranged marriage.
Lalitha: We had the horoscopes matched.
Hariharan: We met over a glass of juice.
Lalitha: My mom asked me to wear a Kanchipuram sari.
Hariharan: You had oiled your hair.
Lalitha: I had very long hair then. My hair was oiled and plaited with flowers.
Hariharan: She came across as a very frank person. Very innocent.
Lalitha: The first time I went to Bombay was after my marriage. We were married in 1984. At that time you were an upcoming artiste.
Hariharan: There came a time when I said, 'Don't call me upcoming. Just call me an artiste.'
Lalitha: What I like about you is that you are a true musician. Your style is unique and you don't try to copy anyone. Truly dedicated to music. I think your first love, wife, children — everything is music. The rest follows.
Hariharan: There are times when I just don't feel like singing. After that I am totally in my shell. It happens sometimes. Especially when I am recording an album. Two, three months and I am gone.
Lalitha: I sometimes say, 'You have not spent time with me today. You haven't spent time in a week.' Your reply: 'I was home all the time.' 'Home the whole day' would mean he was in his own world. You would say, 'I had lunch with you, I had tea with you.' During lunch and tea, your mind would be elsewhere. Your toes move (keep time) even when you are asleep.
Hariharan: As a child my home was full of music. My father had a house in Thiruvananthapuram. My dad, H.A.S. Mani, a Carnatic singer, died in 1963. I was about nine then. There was a shop selling firewood right opposite the house. I was fascinated by the woodcutter there, his physique and stamina. He was my childhood hero. Then there was a small Siva temple. My mother used to tell me how I used to run there and get prasadam. Small memories of Thiruvananthpuram. My mother Alamelu Mani is also a singer. I used to be very scared of my father. Those days, you were in awe of your father. My first guru was my mother. I picked up ragas, varnams and keerthanams from her. I was 19 and in college when I first heard Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan.
I was zapped and joined him as a student. Luckily for me, he was open-minded. He is one person who had sung ghazals, film songs... In 1978, I listened to Mehdi Hasan. The kind of dimension he gave to ghazals was amazing. Basically, I love to sing songs. Ghazals are very conversational; it means to talk to your loved one. It could be to anyone — your child, partner, lover, God, nature. I try to put that conversational aspect into my film songs too. That kind of personal touch has to be there.
Lalitha: I enjoy many of your songs. "Uyire" (from Bombay) is right on top of that long list. I don't sing. I have stated that two singers in the family are enough. I prefer doing the management.
Hariharan: You manage our big shows like when we have a 40-piece orchestra. Then I have another show called Soul India when I sing all my songs in two hours.
(Ask him about his ponytail and... )
Hariharan: Well, it is very simple. I used to go to a hairstylist called Anand. He was quite a cat himself. Lot of style like Rajesh Khanna. He used to cut my hair and occasionally keep looking at himself in the mirror. (Imitating the hair stylist, he goes 'khat, khat... .' with an imaginary pair of scissors). So he told me: Haribhai yeh thoda grow kijiye. Aap ke liye acha lagega. (Grow your hair a bit. It will look good on you.) This was much before Colonial Cousins.
Lalitha: (Mischievously) I started chopping my hair shorter and you kept growing it.
Hariharan: So I kept growing my hair and I got the name pony-tailed ghazal gayak. After three-four years, my time came. I became popular and people attributed my hair to my popularity. They wanted to know if I was a musical Samson. Some others wanted to know if it was something spiritual. I said, no baba. It's nothing. Now, maybe after a decade, people identify me with that. I'd better keep it. (Laughs loudly.)
Lalitha: I don't like it.
Hariharan: (Surprised) You don't like my hair?
Lalitha: I've got to plait it. I've got to take care of it. A lot of work.
Hariharan: I thought you loved it.
Lalitha: Really? Before a show, when I want you to portray a certain style for a song, I've got to work on your hair.
Hariharan: (Guffawing) It seems to be getting into everybody's hair.
Lalitha: Our sons, Akshay, who is 18, and Karan, 12, want to grow their hair like you.
Hariharan: Yes, both of them. They are inspired by my hair. They keep saying, 'Dad, you have long hair.' So I tell them, first get out of your school and college and then do what you want. I don't have any hassles.
Before Colonial Cousins, I was known more as a ghazal singer. My albums Reflection and Hazir, which I had done with Zakir Hussain, had clicked. But ghazals don't have mass appeal. When Colonial came along, it was so different and fresh, it was a massive hit. The lasting image people carry of me today would be Colonial Cousins. It also attracted a lot of people who were not really into Indian music.
Lalitha: After Colonial Cousins, gradually your popularity started growing and we became accustomed to it. I used to manage everything and the Colonial Cousins' concerts used to keep me occupied for a long time.
Hariharan: Suddenly from 10 calls, it used to be 100 calls a day.
Lalitha: We didn't have any office personnel then. I used to handle the shows and produce them too. I enjoy it because it is something different from what I do. Of course, we do take a break. I make sure that every year we take off to some place together.
Hariharan: At least for a month.
Lalitha: Whichever places take our fancy. We have gone to Africa, places in India, Switzerland...
Hariharan: I just loved Africa. No phones or TV. I really bonded with my kids then.

He's currently one of India's most popular playback singers, lending his rich, deep voice to both Hindi and Tamil film tunes. But 47-year-old Hariharan switches singing styles just as easily as his clothes.

Clad in a kurta-pyjama (long tunic and pants), he fills up a concert hall with the mellifluous strains of both North and South Indian classical music. Looking sharp in leather pants and vivid colour shirts, he rocks, belting out pop tunes.

On Saturday Hariharan will perform at the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga, minus the leather pants.

"It's a ghazal concert," he elaborates during an interview on the phone from New Orleans. "I might sing a few film songs, but the concert is aimed at a niche audience."

Ghazal, a form of poetry Hariharan describes as "talking to your beloved," is his forte.

Born and brought up in Mumbai (Bombay), Hariharan comes from a family of musicians. Both his parents were trained in classical South Indian style known as Carnatic music. However, his parents encouraged Hariharan to listen to classical North Indian music known as Hindustani music.

"You could say I've heard music since I was born," he says. "My parents taught students in our house. We'd have musical evenings and discussions of music. And we would go out for music concerts.

"And when I was in school, I was exposed to English songs, such as those by ABBA or the Beatles."

Yet something about Hindustani music appealed to Hariharan and he started learning it from renowned singer Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan.

Soon after, in about 1977, Hariharan started to enter the world of ghazals.

"I started singing ghazals because I felt it had poetry, romance and rhythm," he says. "And you could put any kind of singing into it. I've used Hindustani and Carnatic ragas (a melodic framework on which the singer improvises) in ghazals."

As he was starting his foray into ghazals, Hariharan also started his playback-singing career. Winning an award in a national contest in 1977, his voice caught the ear of Indian music director

Jaidev who gave Hariharan his first break in the Hindi movie Gaman. In 1998 Hariharan was nominated for the National Award for his debut movie song.

Movie offers poured in. At the same time he was also recording ghazal albums such as Reflections, Paigam and Haazir. But it wasn't until much later in his musical career that Hariharan started getting recognized as a singer.

"I had to develop a style," he says. "And my ghazal albums gave me a kind of character, a personality."

In 1992 Hariharan met A. R. Rahman, a Tamil composer who was then also struggling to make it in the industry. (Now a much-in-demand composer, Rahman recently paired up with composer Andrew Lloyd Webber to write the score for the musical Bombay Dreams currently showing in Britain.)

Rahman, who had heard Hariharan's ghazals, signed him on to sing for the Tamil film Roja. The song became a hit. The same year saw Hariharan pairing up with composer Leslie Lewis to form the band Colonial Cousins. They put out a self-titled album in 1996, which won an MTV India's Viewer's Choice award as well as a U.S. Billboard award. Colonial Cousins also became the first Indian act to perform on MTV Unplugged in London, England.

"It was like another mehfil or cutcheri (concert)," laughs Hariharan when asked about their performance on MTV Unplugged.

In 1998, Hariharan also won the National Award for his rendition of a song in the Hindi movie Border - 20 years after he was first nominated. As for the future, Hariharan has a simple plan.

"I just want to make good music. That's all," he says.

Hariharan's 50th Birthday Bash

Thanks for the article..

I need one clarification here

I love this Duet - Hum Tum se na Kuch Keha Paye.. don't remmber movie but I know it was picturised on Sunny n Raveena... Was it sang by Hariharan????

Thanks for the article..He is a very talented singer..

I need one clarification here

I love this Duet - Hum Tum se na Kuch Keha Paye.. don't remmber movie but I know it was picturised on Sunny n Raveena... Was it sang by Hariharan???? ❓

The ghazal is an ancient Persian form of poetry. Its Arabic root word refers to an amorous conversation with one's lover. Ghazals are mostly strings of couplets, related thematically, but not necessarily narratively or logically. Although amorous in nature, the ghazal is mostly a poem of ideas - symbolic, mystic and philosophical.

Hariharan acquired a passion for ghazals early in his life, inspired by the legendary ghazal singer Mehdi Hassan. He switched from learning Carnatic to Hindusthani music and put heart and soul into learning Urdu. His love for this genre springs from the fact that ghazals offer, in his words, "immense scope for innovation". In his ghazals, Hariharan draws on his mastery of classical music techniques such as alaap and sargam but at the same time remains true to the essence of the art form -- singing from the heart, as he puts it, using the right cadences and lowering the voice almost to a murmur when the emotion calls for such expression. The result of this mix of classical virtuoso and ability to emote is Hariharan's unique art form that appeals to both the connoisseur and common man alike.

Hariharan's Ghazal Albums
(Click on the album cover for details)

	Swar Utsav		Kaash
	Aathwan Sur		Jashn
	Halka Nasha		Visaal
	Qaraar		Paigham
	Gulfam		Hazir
	Saptarishi		In Concert
	My Favourite Hits

The Very Best Of Hariharan's Ghazals Dil Ki Baat Dil Nasheen Sukoon / Reflections Shamakhana

LAHORE KE RANG HARI KE SANG

Hariharan sings the music of Lahore (2005)

Tracks

Mohay upnay hi rang mai rang de (Lyrics: Amir Khusro; Music: Wazir Afzal)
Bhavain tu jaan na jaan (Lyrics: Bulleh Shah; Music: Wazir Afzal)
Dil se guzri baat (Lyrics: Majeed Amjad; Music: Nazar Hussain)
Root gaye moray baankay (Thumri; Arrangement: Qadir Shaggan)
Bohut kathin hai dagar punghut ki (Lyrics: Amir Khusro; Music: Wazir Afzal)
Mar ke hum khak-e-raahay yaar huay (Lyrics: Hasrat Mohani; Music: Hariharan)
Aa vekh asada haal (Lyrics: Mushtaq Soofi; Music: Wazir Afzal)
Piya toray aangan mai (Lyrics: Tajjamul; Music: Wazir Afzal)	Saanj dhalay na (Lyrics: Adeen Taji; Music: Hariharan)	Begana vaar unsay (Lyrics: Nasir Kazmi; Music: Nazar Hussain in Darbari raag)

The Hindu Friday, November 20, 1998 SECTION: Entertainment

Fine vibes on musical plane On November 12, Mandolin U. Shrinivas and Hariharan proved that there are no speed breakers on the road to excellence. At ''The Musical Vibes'' at Kamarajar Memorial, they not only struck the right notes but also transported the rasikas from the mundane to the realms of ecstasy. The notable aspect of this innovative effort was the amalgamation of kritis, ghazals, patriotic songs, Carnatic and Hindustani styles of raga and swara prastharams rolled in vilamba, madhyama and druta tempos. Summarising the essence of Nagaswaravali through an entrancing outline, Hariharan and Shrinivas began the programme by propitiating Lord Ganesha with the slokam ''Mooshika Vaahana Modaka Hasta.'' To continue the raga, Shrinivas chose the fast- paced kriti, ''Garudagamana,'' by Patnam Subramanya Iyer which was marked by delicacy. Hariharan's smooth merging of the ghazal ''Din Bhari Shyaam Raat Baari Hai'' brimmed with emotion, with the right mixture of ghatam and tabla catering to the finer sensibilities of the listeners. It was the detailed exposition of Keeravani that mirrored the rich experience of the two musicians. The ample use of base strings by Shrinivas to expose the subtleties of the raga, and his long stretching ''one-stroke'' sangatis created an upbeat listening mood. Ably supported by Pradeep Pundit on the harmonium, Hariharan neatly slipped into the ghazal ''Hath Me Dekhe Mera Bath'' and the pleasing neraval in the line ''Tum Na Badaloge'' by both in gratifying paces leading to some mellow rendition of swaras were in perfect alignment. Bringing about the mood of the ghazal ''Samarata Nahi'' (tuned by Shrinivas) was the soft raga Desh, which quickly drifted to Bharatiyar's ''Parukulle Nalla Nadu''. The unison of Asrar Ahamed's tabla and E. M. Subramanium's ghatam here needs special mention. The variations in the accent and tone of Carnatic and Hindustani music were highlighted in Mayamalavagowla with Tyagaraja's ''Tulasidalamulache''. This is where both Shrinivas and Hariharan were guided by what really makes for the beauty of the ragas, kritis and swaras - the lakshya gana. Hariharan's effortless switching over from Carnatic to Hindustani, his modulation of voice to suit the lyrics and some electrifying swara korvais by Shrinivas were noteworthy. Even if Vyasa Raya's popular kriti ''Krishna Ni Begane Baro'' never lacked in its melodic presentation, Hariharan's rendering of the sahitya seemed short of one's expectation. It is in the sahitya that a musician applies more sensitivity to a kriti, enabling one to visualise the scene of action. Bharatiyar's ''Chinnanchiru Kiliye'' and a Sai bhajan in Revati ragam finally marked the stamp of class on ''the South Indian cousins'', as light-heartedly referred to by Mr. T. T. Vasu, president, Music Academy, who inaugurated the programme, that was aided by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of Culture. Mr. G. K. Moopanar, president, Sri Tyaga Brahma Mahotsava Sabha, was the chief guest. RANJANI GOVIND